▪ Surveying has traditionally been defined as the science, art, and technology of

determining the relative positions of points above, on, or beneath the Earth’s surface,
or of establishing such points.
 ▪ Its earliest applications were in
measuring and marking boundaries of property ownership.
▪ Throughout the years, its importance has steadily increased with the growing demand
for a variety of maps and other spatially related types of information and the
expanding need for establishing accurate line and grade to guide construction
operations.
▪ Egyptians
▪ The oldest historical records in existence today that bear directly on the subject of surveying
state that this science began in Egypt.
▪ Herodotus recorded that Sesostris (King of Egypt) divided the land of Egypt into plots for the
purpose of taxation.
 ▪ Annual floods of the Nile River swept
away portions of these plots, and surveyors were appointed to replace the boundaries.
▪ Early surveyors were called rope stretchers, since their measurements were made with ropes
with markers at unit distances.
▪ Greeks
▪ Greek thinkers developed the science of geometry.
▪ Heron applied science to surveying in 120B.C.
▪ He authored The Dioptra which related the methods of surveying a field, drawing a plan, and making related
calculations. It also described one of the first pieces of surveying equipment recorded, the diopter.
▪ Romans
▪ Significant development in the art of surveying came from the practical-minded Romans.
▪ The engineering ability of the Romans was demonstrated by their extensive construction work
throughout the empire.
▪ Surveying necessary for this construction resulted in the organization of surveyors’ guild.
 ▪ Ingenious instruments were developed
and used. Among these were the groma (used for sighting), the labella (an A-frame with a plumb
bob for leveling), and the chorobates (horizontal straightedge for leveling).
▪ Early civilizations assumed the Earth to be a flat surface, but by noticing the Earth’s
circular shadow on the moon during lunar eclipses and watching ships gradually
disappear as they sailed toward the horizon, it was slowly deducted that the planet
actually curved in all directions.
▪ A Greek named Eratosthenes was among the first to compute its dimensions.
▪ Watch how Eratosthenes calculated the Earth’s circumference here:
▪ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw30CgaXiQw
▪ 18th and 19th Century
▪ The art of surveying advanced more rapidly. The need for maps and location of national
boundaries caused England and France to make extensive surveys requiring accurate
triangulation; thus geodetic surveying began.
▪ More recently, large volume of general construction, numerous land subdivisions that require
precise records, and demands posed by fields of exploration and ecology have entailed an
augmented surveying program.
▪ Surveying also contributed to the space program where new equipment systems were needed to
provide precise control for missile alignment and for mapping and charting portions of the
moon and nearby planets.
▪ Surveying is one of the world’s oldest and most important arts because, as noted
previously, from the earliest times it has been necessary to mark boundaries and
divide land.
▪ The result of today’s surveys are used to:
▪ 1. Map the Earth above and below the sea level
▪ 2. Prepare navigational charts for use in the air, land, and at sea.
▪ 3. Establish property boundaries of private and public lands.
▪ 4. Develop data banks of land use and natural resource information.
▪ 5. Determine facts on the size, shape, gravity, and magnetic fields of the earth.
▪ 6. Prepare charts of our moon and planets.
▪ Surveyors, architects and civil engineers who are called on to design and plan surveys
must have a thorough understanding of the methods and instruments used, including
their capabilities and limitations.
▪ This knowledge is best obtained by making observations with the kinds of equipment
used in practice to get a true concept of the theory of errors and the small but
recognizable differences that occur in observed quantities.
▪ In addition to stressing the need for reasonable limits of accuracy, surveying
emphasized the value of significant figures.
▪ For some topographic work, only exceedingly small errors can be tolerated in
surveying, and there is no factor of safety. Traditionally, therefore, both manual and
computational precision are stressed in surveying.
▪ According to the space involved:
▪ 1. Plane Surveying – used for relatively small areas
▪ The surface of the earth can be assumed flat.
▪ Measurements plotted represent a horizontal projection of the actual field measurements.
▪ 2. Geodetic Surveying – used for large areas
▪ The surface of the Earth cannot be assumed flat.
▪ The curvature of the Earth is taken into account.
▪ Plane Surveying
▪ Geodetic Surveying
▪ Plane surveying can be divided into the following:
▪ 1. Chain Surveying
▪ 2. Traverse Surveying
▪ 3. Plane Table Surveying
▪ 4. Ordinary Leveling
▪ Chain Surveying – is the simplest type of surveying in which the area to be surveyed is
divided into a number of triangles. The length of the sides are measured and the
interior details are recorded. The whole area is then plotted in a suitable scale to
produce a map.
▪ Traverse Surveying – is a type of surveying in which the plot of the land to be
surveyed is enclosed by a series of straight lines making angles with one another. The
length of the lines and the angles are measured and plotted with all interior details on
a drawing sheet to a suitable scale to produce a map.
▪ Plane Table Surveying – is a graphical method of surveying in which the field works
and the plotting are done simultaneously. It is particularly adopted in small mapping.
▪ Ordinary Leveling – is a type of surveying in which the relative elevations of different
points on the surface of the Earth are determined.
▪ Geodetic surveying can be divided into the following:
▪ 1. Triangulation
▪ 2. Reciprocal Leveling
▪ 3. Tacheometry or Stadia Leveling
▪ 4. Astronomical Surveying ▪ 5. Photographic Surveying
▪ Triangulation – utilizes a network of well-defined triangles on the plot of land to be
surveyed. One of the lines is considered as the baseline and all other lines and angles
are then measured accordingly.
▪ Reciprocal Leveling – used in leveling across streams, gullies, and other obstructions
to eliminate instrumental errors. The level readings are taken from two setups at two
 different points. The difference in levels between the two sites with obstructions is
determined through this survey.
▪ Tacheometry or Stadia Surveying – method where a telescoping sight instrument is
used to measure distances. This method incorporates a theodolite controlled by an
operator and a level staff held by another surveyor at a distance. Both vertical and
horizontal distances are computed through stadia readings.
▪ Astronomical Surveying – a method in which the meridian, azimuth, latitude,
longitude, etc. of the plot to be surveyed is determined with the help of celestial
bodies.
▪ Photographic Surveying – a method where the maps are prepared from photographs
taken from suitable camera stations. The output is a map, a drawing or a 3D model of
some real-world scene or object.
▪ According to purpose:
▪ 1. Land Surveys
▪ 2. Topographic Surveys
▪ 3. Route Surveys
▪ 4. Municipal Surveys
▪ 5. Construction Surveys
▪ 6. Hydrographic Surveys
▪ 7. Mine Surveys
▪ 8. Photogrammetric Surveys
▪ 9. Control Surveys
▪ Land Surveys – plane surveys made for locating property lines, subdividing land into
smaller parts, determining areas, and providing any other information involving
transfer of land from one owner to another.
▪ Topographic Surveys – made for locating objects and measuring the relief, roughness,
or three-dimensional variations of the earth’s surface.
▪ Route Surveys – involve the determination of the location of objects along a proposed
route for a highway-railroad, canal, pipelines, power lines, or other utilities.
▪ Municipal Surveys – are made within a given municipality for the purpose of laying
out streets, preparing maps, and so on.
▪ Construction Surveys – made for the purpose of locating structures and providing
required elevation points during their construction.
▪ Hydrographic Surveys – pertains to mapping of shorelines and the bottom of bodies
of water.
▪ Mine Surveys – are made to obtain the relative positions and elevations of
underground shafts, geological formations, and so on.
▪ Photogrammetric Surveys – utilizing data obtained by camera or other sensors
carried in airplanes or satellites.
▪ Control Surveys – are reference surveys used to establish a network of horizontal and
vertical monuments that serve as a reference framework for other survey projects.